Hyundai Motor Securities teams up with Koscom ahead of STO regime launch next year

Hyundai Motor Securities is joining forces with Koscom to lay the groundwork for its security token offering business ahead of the STO regime's launch in February next year.

Hyundai Motor Securities announced Wednesday that it signed an MOU with Koscom at Koscom's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Tuesday to advance an STO platform project.

Under the agreement, the two companies will expand their cooperation across the STO business — collaborating on STO platform and distributed ledger technology, reviewing ways to use a joint platform, and identifying new business models.

Hyundai Motor Securities plans to draw on Koscom's IT capabilities to examine the technical requirements for its STO operations and how they can be integrated with its existing systems. The firm aims to strengthen its capacity to pursue STO-related projects and build a foundation that can eventually feed into financial products and customer services.

Koscom is preparing a joint STO platform called KoSTO ahead of the regime's February launch. The company has completed STO issuance infrastructure with LG CNS and finished a testbed demonstration with the Korea Securities Depository for aggregate management. Thirteen securities firms, including Hyundai Motor Securities, are now cooperating through the Koscom joint platform.

Hyundai Motor Securities has also been moving to diversify its revenue streams by expanding its business scope. On Tuesday, it reorganized its investment banking division, splitting it into a structured finance unit and a corporate finance unit. The firm plans to gradually broaden its corporate finance operations — from its existing focus on project financing and alternative investment — to include debt capital markets, and eventually initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions.

"This partnership is significant in that it combines Hyundai Motor Securities' brokerage capabilities with Koscom's blockchain technology to establish a stable foundation for the STO business," Hyundai Motor Securities President Bae Hyung-keun said. "Going forward, we will work closely with Koscom to build STO-related infrastructure based on each company's expertise and technology, and respond flexibly to regulatory and technological changes."